Our mission is to partner with institutions of learning, foundations, government and industry, in the United States and abroad to create centers of research in foundational sciences to address global problems and build a culture of science.

A shift in viewpoint from a local community of researchers to a global one will infuse all areas of science with new ideas and provide opportunities for scientists at large. Our successful approach relies on strategic partnerships with universities worldwide to form "Centers of Global Science."

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California Research Alliance (CARA) by BASF

Together with BASF, UCLA, and Stanford University, the College of Chemistry (CoC) at University of California, Berkeley has created a new collaborative research center, the California Research Alliance (CARA). The CARA center is located in the CoC and will take a multidisciplinary approach to facilitating innovation and technology transfer.

CARA is directed by Profs. Omar M. Yaghi and Peidong Yang (CoC) along with BASF Senior Research Manager Kerstin Schierle-Arndt. The main research focus will be on developing inorganic materials and techniques for the electronic and semiconductor industries. Furthermore, there will be dedicated research toward creating new materials for renewable energy applications, including more efficient photovoltaics and devices that harness artificial photosynthesis to produce fuels from sunlight.

CARA will also dedicate significant effort towards bioscience topics (led by Prof. Matt Francis and BASF Vice President Klaus-Juergen Schleifer). Specifically, CARA research will elucidate the molecular pathways that lead to either the therapeutic benefits or the toxicological effects of biologically active compounds. Understanding these pathways will help to develop safer drugs, plastics and agricultural chemicals. Other biological research topics will include creating protein assemblies and other nanoscale structures to delivery anti-cancer molecules directly to tumors.